VICTORAN LONDON
Victorian London was highly hypocritical as while it was plagued with extremely restrictive social norms, prostitution and drug use were rampant.
Stevenson presents London as a place of duality where the respectable façade of the city hides its sordid underbelly, much like Jekyll conceals Hyde. Soho, where Hyde resides, symbolises moral corruption, while Jekyll’s grand house represents social respectability
Hyde’s residence in Soho reflects his degeneracy, contrasting with Jekyll’s prestigious home in a reputable area. Utterson’s discomfort in Soho highlights Victorian anxieties about the ‘lower’ parts of society.
VICTORIAN GENTLEMAN
The Victorians were infatuated with the idea of the ‘Victorian Gentleman’ which attempted to separate the genteel (seemingly respectable) upper class man from the uncouth (impolite) lower class man.
Jekyll initially embodies the ideal Victorian gentleman: wealthy, educated, and reputable. However, his creation of Hyde reveals the pressure on Victorian men to repress their darker impulses with Hyde’s existence exposing the fragility of the ‘gentlemanly’ image
In Victorian society, social interactions were inherently performative, governed by rigid expectations of class and respectability. The idea that all human interaction was theatrical ties into the novel’s broader themes of duality and deception, Jekyll outwardly embodies the ideal gentleman while secretly indulging in his darker impulses
PHYSIOGNOMY
Physiognomy was a pseudo-scientific (inaccurate science) theory that one’s character could be judged through their outward appearance. The presence of physical abnormality was an implication that there was something wrong with the individual’s moral character.
Hyde is described as deformed and repellent, which suggests he is inherently evil. Lanyon’s death following his encounter with Hyde emphasises the extremity of his hideous appearance by implying that the mere sight of it is potentially fatal.
Closely linked to physiognomy, phrenology was the theory that an individual’s skull shape determined their personality, intelligence, and propensity for crime. Hyde’s deformed appearance plays into this pseudoscientific belief, reinforcing the idea that moral corruption is physically manifes
RELIGION
In the Victorian period, morality was rooted in religion, with the idea of evil being tied to the Fall of Man in the Book of Genesis where Adam and Eve commit the ‘original sin’ by eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
CHARACTER LINK
Jekyll’s transformation into Hyde can be likened to original sin, his desire to break free from moral restrictions leads to his downfall. Utterson’s concern with Jekyll’s ‘reputation’ reflects Victorian religious anxieties about sin and public morality.
PRESBYTERIANISM
PRESBYTERIANISM
Stevenson grew up in a Presbyterian household, which was a branch of Christianity that believed in predestination (the idea that God has already preselected who He will save and who will be damned) and that every individual was inherently a sinner.
HOW IT LINKS
The novel explores the idea of inherent sinfulness as Jekyll, despite his best efforts, cannot resist Hyde. This aligns with the Presbyterian belief that human nature is inherently sinful
ekyll’s eventual downfall suggests that his fate was inevitable, aligning with the Presbyterian belief in predestination. Hyde becomes an embodiment of the evil inherent and lurking within every individual beneath their facade of morality.
DARWINISM
Hyde’s bestial nature reflects Victorian anxieties surrounding Darwin’s theory of evolution and the idea of ‘devolution’, that humans could regress into a more primitive state of being was deeply unsettling to Victorians.
CHARACTER LINK
Hyde is described in zoomorphic terms, he moves with “ape-like fury” and is “hardly human.” Jekyll, through his transformations, embodies the fear that civilisation is only a thin facade that masks more primal instincts.
